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March 21, 2009

Last year, the BBC launched a documentary on pedigree dogs in the UK called "Pedigree Dogs Exposed".

The program featured several breeds of dogs that were known to have genetic health problems -- however, the Kennel Club still seems to reward exaggerated breed traits. The push for these exaggerated breed traits has created a wealth of health problems: brain tumors in some spaniels, bulldogs that can barely breath -- and cannot breed on their own -- among other health problems.

Last week, ABC News ran a segment entitled "Best in Show?" that highlights many of the same problems that exist in AKC dogs in the US. It's an 8 minute or so segment -- and really a pretty solid program.

The program isolates two breeding issues that are causing most of the problems: Massive in-breeding and line-breeding; and breeding for exaggerated looks (think heavily wrinkled or really short muzzles). Maybe the most distrubing part of the entire program was that instead of accepting being interviewed for the program, the AKC refused to be interviewed.

Terrierman has much of the program in written text here. Terrierman was also interviewed for the segment. He had really good statements that most dogs are bred for pets, not for jobs, which is fine, but if the primary purpose of a dog is to be a pet, then health should be a primary goal of breeding. But it's not. You can also get his thoughts on English Bulldogs here. What has become of the English Bulldog is a very visual example of what these programs are talking about.

Not only is pet homelessness an issue that we need to address -- but we also need to be sure that the people who ARE breeding pets are doing so responsibly. And that doesn't just mean AKC breeders, because many of them aren't either. Not everyone who is breeding dogs is bad (most aren't), but we need to be sure that they are breeding dogs to be healthy, not for exaggerated looks that cause health problems in our breeds.

"Modern breeding practices are affecting the behaviour adn mental abilities of pedigree breeds as well as their physical features," he said.

In his testing of 13,000 dogs on characteristics such as sociability and curiosity, he rated 31 different breeds of dogs, and found that those bred for appearance, and especially for shows, displayed reduced levels of these qualities.

I'm not going to vouge for Svartberg, or whether or not he was biased in his non-objective study, but there is little disputing that our idea of what dogs are used for has changed dramatically over the past 100 years. Where once, the vast majority of dogs were used as working dogs for a specific purpose, where look was a minor element compared to function, now, the majority of dogs are bred for looks, with function being only a minor part of the puzzle. It would make sense that as we bred more for a "look" than for functionality, that the ability of the dogs to perform their orginal function, may have decreased.

December 12, 2008

This won't be my final comments on this program, which, if you haven't watched by now, you should. Here's the link.

Caveat has a good post on the topic as well. Well worth the read. She has quite a few pictures of several different breeds and how they've changed over the years. She focuses a lot on the changes between among Pekignese and German Shepherds and insists that show dogs should be tested for health, and not just looks.

Meanwhile, Fred at One Bark at a Time has a humorous, yet sad, story of a German Shepherd that was brought into the Toronto Humane Society that had noticably week hips and knees and was barely deemed suitable by a veterinarian for adoption -- that ends up almost perfectly meeting the breed standards for show German Shepherds.

At least some good news has come from the program. Today, Terrierman notes a lot of positive changes that are taking place, including Pedigree yanking their sponsorship of the Crufts dog show, the BBC no longer airing the show, and the Australian Kennel Club Announcing they will be reviewing all of their breed standards to reflect a policy more focused on the health of the animals.

All of these are great reads. Check them out. All of this conversation on this topic has sparked a nugget of a post on a related, but different topic that I'm going to get to as soon as the tech geniouses at my office get my own computer up and running again. More soon (I hope).

December 10, 2008

This documentary has been out for awhile I guess, but given that I don't live in the UK or Canada, I hadn't seen it (I don't believe it's run in the US at any point).

The documentary focuses on the many health problems of many pedigreed dog breeds in the UK. While the documentary focuses on the UK, similar problems exist in the US. The problem is that so many of the dog breeds have gotten to where there is such a limited gene pool for pedigree dogs that they are becoming very inbred. There are several breeds in the UK that have thousands of dogs in them, but the gene pool is the equivelent to there being about 50 dogs in them.

Needless to say, something needs to be done. The limited gene pool has caused many breeds to have genetic health problems -- because for too long, the pedigree dog people have been focusing on looks, and not the overall health, of the dogs.

The show touches on the problems of a lot of different breeds:

Syringomyeliea in the Cavelier King Spaniels.

Back leg issues with German Shepherds (this one I've notices a lot in "show quality" German Shepherds of late).

The shortining of the legs in Bassett Hounds and Dachshunds.

Spina-bifida issues in Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

Breathing issues in Pugs and Peekaneese (this is also prevelant in many Bulldog breeds).

Epilepsy in Boxers.

That in spite of many of these genetic disease faults, many of these dogs are considered "show quality" by The Kennell Club (UK) because of how they look -- and are allowed and even encouraged to breed.

It's an interesting watch. I'm sure that the video highlights the worst case scenerios and is not indicative of all purebred dogs. But I also think, from the people I know who know way more about these issues than I do, that these types of health problems are a major concern in the US as well and something we need to work to correct before it gets worse. Otherwise, many of the breeds as we now know them could become extinct.

I think this is an important show to watch for anyone in the animal welfare world. I think it is important for breeders to fix the problem. I think it's important to realize that mandatory spay/neuter ordinances, if they are done on a grand scale, may increase this problem. I think it is important for someone who wants to buy a pedigree dog to know the breeder and be sure they are doing the proper health screenings. And I think it's important as humans to know that we are responsible for our own actions.

I'm going to use this as a platform for another discussion later this week -- (and it's probably a different topic than you think). So watch the video....